Oh look, Bryan Lindquist — spokesman for an SPLC-certified anti-gay hate group and the newest member of the Anoka-Hennepin Anti-Bullying/Anti-Harassment Task Force — has something to say about marriage equality!

The editorial board of ABC Newspapers, a group that owns several newspapers in central Minnesota, published an editorial encouraging readers to vote against a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would deny same-sex couples the freedom to marry. Needless to say, that didn’t sit well with Lindquist, a notorious opponent of LGBT rights who publicly refers to homosexuality as a “sexual disorder.” So he wrote a letter to the editor in response, in which he claims, among other things, that gay and lesbian parents molest their children. It’s a doozy:

To the Editor:

This is in response to the editorial from the ECM Editorial Board titled “Marriage amendment would suppress freedom” (Oct. 5).

While they agree with the fact that “Children do best when they are raised by a mother and a father…” they also suggest that “… children will thrive in environments in which they are loved by two parents, regardless of the gender make-up of those parents.” This simply is not true.

University of Texas Professor Mark Regnerus did a study on homosexual parenting. His excellent research was published in the well-respected academic journal, “Social Science Research.”

The Regnerus study is the largest of its kind to date (just under 3,000 interviews of 18- to 39-year-olds), and is the most thorough and comprehensive study ever done on this topic.

Here are some of his findings that reveal greater child endangerment in same-sex households than households headed by a mom and a dad:

Parental pedophilia: 23 percent of children with a lesbian mother reported having been touched sexually by a parent or adult, compared with 2 percent of those raised by biological parents.

Higher number of rape cases: 31 percent of children raised by a lesbian mother and 25 percent raised by a homosexual male report that they were forced to have sex against their will, compared to 8 percent from intact families.

Suicidal tendencies are shocking: 24 percent of children raised by homosexual men and 12 percent of children raised by lesbian mothers admitted to having recently contemplated suicide, compared to 5 percent of those raised by biological parents or even a single parent.

This study proves that children are better off when raised by their biological mom and dad.

The ECM Editorial Board is wrong. Children raised in homes where homosexuality or other same-sex behaviors are present face increased risks.

The social experiment of legalizing same-sex unions will prove disastrous for kids and bring untold dysfunction and damage to children and society.

Vote “yes” on the Marriage Protection Amendment on Nov. 6 and help protect the children in Minnesota.

Bryan Lindquist
Ramsey

Of course, the “study” Lindquist cites, that of University of Texas Professor Mark Regnerus, has been widelydiscredited for its flawed methodology, wildly inaccurate conclusions, and allegations of partiality, to name just three examples. (If you’d like further information, Scott Rose of the New Civil Rights Movement has written extensively about the bankruptcy of this so-called “study.”) In short, it’s junk science. But because it’s junk science that happens to legitimize anti-LGBT bigotry, homophobes like Lindquist are more than happy to cite its bogus statistics in service of their anti-equality agenda.

Think it’s unconscionable that a proponent of such awful anti-gay lies should be entrusted to serve on a task force charged with protecting kids — including LGBT kids — from bullying and harassment? We do too. But Anoka-Hennepin School Board Chair Tom Heidemann, who appointed Lindquist to the task force, apparently doesn’t see it that way. He defended his decision earlier this week when he spoke with a local television station, and again in an interview that aired today on Minnesota Public Radio. Heidemann said,

“[Lindquist] brings a conservative-Christian point of view to the committee and also a commitment to making sure that there’s no bullying and harassment of students in school for any reason.”

Just so we’re clear, the conservative Christian, homophobic “point of view” that Heidemann’s referring to is the same one — religion-based anti-LGBT bigotry — that leaves a trail of dead teens. But in the Anoka-Hennepin School District — one with bullying and suicide problems so severe that the State of Minnesota declared it a “suicide contagion area” — it’s still apparently a point of view worthy of respect and consideration.

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20 Comments

SteveOctober 25, 2012 at 4:25 pm -

It’s really become standard in America that people think that any random opinion – no matter how crazy and even untrue – deserves consideration on an equal basis as all other opinions. That has also let to the deplorable state of journalism which is all about fake “balance” where people think that there are two equally valid sides to all issues and that everything needs to have some token counterpoint.

Ben In OaklandOctober 25, 2012 at 4:54 pm -

“•Parental pedophilia: 23 percent of children with a lesbian mother reported having been touched sexually by a parent or adult, compared with 2 percent of those raised by biological parents.”

I don’t remember seeing anything like that in Regenrus, but if so, the majority of those children were living in mixed orientation homes with their bio parents. so who was doing that touching.

Mr. Lindquist has fabricated anti-gay hate speech out of a scientifically invalid study on gay parenting funded by an anti-gay-rights group that booby-trapped the study design.

As Mr. Lindquist now is on the school board in the notoriously anti-gay Anoka-Hennepin School District, it is of urgent importance that the public record about the study be corrected to your readers.

The study was funded by the Witherspoon Institute and carried out by Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas at Austin. The study data do not document so much as one instance of “parental pedophilia,” though Lindquist has misrepresented the findings by claiming that they do.

Regnerus and his funders have been lying to the public about their relationship, claiming that Regnerus carried out the study independently of the funders’ anti-gay-rights goals for it. Investigative reporting, however, revealed that the Director of the Witherspoon program that funded the study collaborated with Regnerus on its design. The parties did not disclose or volunteer this information; it was discovered despite their attempts to hide it. Moreover, it is documented that the study was published without benefit of valid professional peer review. Dr. Erik Olin Wright, President of the American Sociological Association, is among over 200 Ph.D.s and M.D.s who signed a letter expressing concerns over the study’s lack of intellectual integrity and the improper process through which it was published. Many Ph.D.s are calling for the study to be retracted from publication and for journal editor James Wright to be removed from his position for editorial misconduct. The American Medical Association filed an amicus brief along with seven other major professional associations, in which Regnerus’s methodology is analyzed as scientifically unsound. No scientific authority without conflicts of interest with Regnerus or the funders has deemed the study scientifically valid.

It is intolerable that a public school board member is promoting pseudoscience deliberately contrived to demonize a minority.

Scott Rose

Wolf SawyerOctober 25, 2012 at 6:05 pm -

Someone needs to slap something, I dunno, a lawsuit, or a court order or a new investigation.
SOMETHING.
They know exactly what they’re doing in blocking the rest and getting that f**k into the “anti-bullying” task force.

Tammy AabergOctober 25, 2012 at 8:18 pm -

I’m dying inside about all of this. I’m finding out there is nothing anyone will do about it either. I can’t tell you how much this school board has hurt me since the death of my son Justin. I’m taking it personal, especially since in August 2010, when I first spoke to the school board, until the recent application to the Antibullying Task Force in which I was denied, I’ve been asking to help make policies better for LGBT kids due to kids like my son. I’ve been ignored or denied at all times. However, not only does Lindquist get a 4 page response from Heidemann but he also gets chosen for the “Antibullying” Task Force when Lindquist himself is a bully. I had to start counseling a couple months back because of the school board. Today, my therapist asked if there was anyway I could separate myself a little from this because he sees how bad I’m hurting, but I told him “no, I will not leave the bad things they do unnoticed. There isn’t hope for me to feel any better unless they actually try to make things better.”

OldBaldGuyOctober 25, 2012 at 8:51 pm -

Tammy, my heart goes out to you, your family, to all those teens in your area. I am enraged to my core at the blatant, arrogant, deliberate heartlessness that is being displayed. I grieve with you for your unimaginable loss and for the intentional hurt these monsters are continuing to cause you. It is my sincere hope that these wretches will be made accountable for the unconscionable damage they are inflicting.

I admire you for your determination, for the depth of your loving mother’s heart – I hope you find the grace and courage to continue on, I hope you find an ever-growing circle of love and allies and support. I hope you are granted justice. And soon! I hope you find healing and peace.

You are in my thoughts.
~Brian

Richard RushOctober 25, 2012 at 9:12 pm -

Obviously, the only mission of the Anti-Bullying Task Force is to assure there is no “bullying” of the anti-gay bullies.

JCFOctober 25, 2012 at 11:02 pm -

{{{Tammy}}}

Take comfort that Justin knows that YOU are doing the right thing, and is proud of you!

Ben in OaklandOctober 26, 2012 at 12:57 am -

Tammy, I don’t know if this will help, but you might try to contact judy and Dennis shepherd, Matthews parents. They’ve been there.

It sickens me, the ease with which any fool can pick the distortions and follies of the Regnerus study and seek to influence public policies using only the right wing version of the study conclusions.

It sickens me even more that they are promoted to positions of influence over the bullying of children.

Tammy, you are so brave. All I can say is, keep on what you’re doing – but keep on talking to your therpaist about how it makes you feel.

Richard RushOctober 26, 2012 at 8:57 am -

I’d bet anything that the people who cling to the “scientific” Regnerus study to support their bigotry are among the same people who reject the science of evolution and climate change.

Chris MOctober 26, 2012 at 10:10 am -

Tammy, my heart goes out to you, please know that you are not alone, and your hard work does make a positive impact on the lives of young people. Such a wonderful tribute to Justin.

Bullying does not just take place in a classroom. Young people are just as affected by what they read/hear everywhere. Mr. Lindquist’s public anti-gay declaration goes beyond merely exercising his right to free speech. His public bullying behavior has demonstrated that he is not suited to be part of an anti-bullying committee in any way. If he is not removed, it is a clear sign that this district cares nothing for the well-being of their students.

KTOctober 26, 2012 at 10:19 am -

That stupid Regenrus study needs to go away. Its been discredited and an interanl audit by the journal that foolishly published it admited it was “bulls**t” and that creating attention for the journal itself was one of the main reasons it was published. Yet anti-gay forces still crow about it everytime they can. The fact that Lindquist will be on a task force with LGBT students frighten me. Heidemann is just as bad – I don’t doubt for a second he agrees with Lindquist. Why else would he continue to support someone who attracts so much controversay?

It is extremely important that someone at Wayne Besen’s level write a counter letter IMMEDIATELY, with appropriate references, the paper has already indicated where it stands on the issue – and will I suspect publish the letter.

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